Your favorite eclectic monthly reading series, Tuesday Funk returns the day after Independence Day, July 5! Join us in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf for readings by Leland Cheuk, Hannah Gamble, Maggie Jenkins, Kendra Stevens and Scott Smith! Andrew Huff and Eden Robins are your faithful co-hosts, and Sal will be behind the bar to serve you a tasty beverage or two.

Doors open at 7pm -- no earlier, please! -- and the show starts at 7:30 sharp. So get there early to grab a seat, but not overly early. As always, admission is free, but you must be 21 or older. And come early or stay late after for some great Belgian-style food downstairs.

Please RSVP on Facebook, and bring a friend. And become a fan so you never miss an invitation to one of our readings. Oh, and we're now on Instagram! Follow us for realtime photos of the readers!

Co-host Andrew Huff read a few topical haiku at the June 7, 2016 episode of Tuesday Funk -- including a couple dedicated to soon-to-be newlyweds Eden Robins and Kyle Thiessen (our videographer).

Pollen burns my eyes,
makes my throat sore, prompts a cough.
Still, glad it's not cold.

The best new name for
Tribune Online Content is
anything but tronc.

May wedded bliss be
a lifetime of adventure
with your beloved.

Mad Max: Fury Road
is now available on
DVD/BluRay.

June's edition of Tuesday Funk was a lively one. Cohost Eden Robins led us off with a bit of Ke$ha fan fiction, followed by post-apocalyptic poetry by Sara Krueger. Cohost Andrew Huff read some topical haiku before handing the mic over to Parker Molloy, who read an essay about the challenges facing transgender teens and how much they outweigh the fantasies of restroom menace imagined by conservative congressmen.

Then we took a break to let Sal refresh our drinks and discuss what we've heard.

Rana Khoury kept the more serious mood going with an excerpt from her book As Ohio Goes: Life in the Post-Recession Nation, describing the decline of manufacturing in the Buckeye State. Norman Doucet closed us out with a personal essay on how Americans have allowed politics to divide us.

We'll be back on Tuesday, July 5 -- yep, the day after Independence Day -- with guests Leland Cheuk, Hannah Gamble, Scott Smith and the cohosts of monthly reading series Serving the Sentence, Maggie Jenkins and Kendra Stevens. Come celebrate freedom with us!

Hey! You should celebrate this amazing weather by sitting inside and listening to some amazing live lit! Tonight we've got Sara Krueger, Rana Khoury, Parker Molloy, Norman Doucet and co-host Eden Robins, co-hosted by your other faithful co-host Andrew Huff!

Our readings take place at Hopleaf Bar, 5148 N. Clark St. in Chicago. We get started promptly at 7:30 pm in the upstairs lounge. Arrive early if you want a seat -- but no earlier than 7:00 pm. Our readings are free, but only those 21 and over will be admitted. No food can be brought in from the restaurant. See you there!

Eden Robins is primarily your co-host, but this month she is also one of your readers! Forgive the bland and perfunctory bio, she is getting married four days after Tuesday Funk and has very little brain left.

Please join Eden and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, June 7, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Norman Doucet hails from the den of the southern rebellion, Charleston, South Carolina. Influenced by the duality that exists there, he made some interesting decisions, starting with attending the college--founded after a slave revolt--which also has the dubious distinction of producing the two cadets who fired the first shots of the Civil War. An English major as an undergrad, Norm decided to join the Marine Corps. He spent almost a decade there, earning his MA in English literature in the process. He loves telling stories, especially stories about those seminal moments that explain the duality that exists in most people.

Please join Norman and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, June 7, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Parker Molloy is a writer at Upworthy.com, where she writes about trending stories, culture, LGBT issues, politics, and more. Her work has also appeared at the New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Glamour, and Playboy.com, among other outlets. She lives just a few blocks from here with her dog and her fiancee, and she's looking forward to hopping right into bed and falling asleep as soon as this is over.

Please join Parker and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, June 7, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Rana B. Khoury is a Ph.D. candidate in political science at Northwestern University. She earned an M.A. from Georgetown University and a B.A. from American University. She has received writing awards from Northwestern and Georgetown, and research support from the Social Science Research Council, the Mellon Foundation, the Council for American Overseas Research Centers, and the Buffett Institute. Rana has lived as far afield as Syria and Singapore, but Ohio--where she conducted the research for her book--is the place she calls home.

Please join Rana and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, June 7, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Sara Krueger's writing brims with charismatic woodland monsters, world-weary robots, and beings from other dimensions, all of who yearn for connection, but seldom find it. She received her B.A. in Film from Columbia College Chicago and has attended residencies at the Atlantic Center for the Arts and the Ragdale Foundation. Sara's work was featured in the DEMO Project's 2016 Dustsceawung exhibition. Her poetry and short fiction appear in The J.J. Outré Review, Menacing Hedge, Devilfish Review, and Twisted Vine Literary Arts Journal, among others. Sara's chapbook, Somehow We Remain in the Aftermath, is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press this summer. Sara owes her artistic sensibilities to her late uncle, who introduced her impressionable 6-year- old mind to David Lynch, Dr. Demento, German Expressionism, and 70's science fiction. Sara lives in Chicago with her husband Garrett, her cat Lando, and her dog Luna. Read more at: sara-krueger.com.

Please join Sara and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, June 7, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

The May 3rd edition of Tuesday Funk found co-host Andrew Huff mixing it up with his patented topical haiku.

Here, then it isn't.
Seventies, then cold again.
Spring can't get started.

Cool mist hangs above
a girl's soccer game Sunday.
Clouds of bugs waft by.

Twenty years with one
person, through life's ups and downs,
make for lasting love.

Animated gifs
leave text replies open to
interpretation.